Scottish Greens: Difference between revisions
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===Previous Councillors=== |
===Previous Councillors=== |
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Prior to the 2007 elections, the Party had only ever elected one councillor at local level: in May 1990, Roger (aka Rory) Winter, representing the Highland Green Party (''Uainich na Gàidhealtachd''), was elected in [[Nairn]] as Scotland's first Green regional councillor to the then [[Highland Regional Council]]. Cllr Winter broke away from the Greens in 1991 and continued his four-year term as an Independent Green Highlander. |
Prior to the 2007 elections, the Party had only ever elected one councillor at local level: in May 1990, Roger (aka Rory) Winter, representing the Highland Green Party (''Uainich na Gàidhealtachd''), was elected in [[Nairn]] as Scotland's first Green regional councillor to the then [[Highland Regional Council]]. Cllr Winter broke away from the Greens in 1991 and continued his four-year term as an Independent Green Highlander. |
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==Electoral Performance== |
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{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; " |
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! Election |
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! Percentage of Scottish vote !! Seats won !! Additional Information |
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| [[Scottish Parliamentary Election, 1999|1999 Scottish Parliament Election]]||3.6%||1 seat||[[Robin Harper]] became the first Green parliamentarian in Britain. |
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| [[European Parliament Election, 1999 (UK)|1999 European Parliament Election]]||5.8%||0 seats |
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| [[United Kingdom general election, 2001|2001 General Election]]||0.2%||0 seats |
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| [[Scottish Parliamentary Election, 2003|2003 Scottish Parliament Election]]||6.9%||7 seats |
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| [[European Parliament Election, 2004 (UK)|2004 European Parliament Election]]||6.8%||0 seats |
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| [[United Kingdom general election, 2005|2005 General Election]]||1.1%||0 seats |
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| [[Scottish Parliamentary Election, 2007|2007 Scottish Parliament Election]]||4.0%||2 seats |
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|[[European Parliament election, 2009 (United Kingdom)|2009 European Parliament Election]]||7.3%||0 seats |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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Revision as of 19:43, 31 May 2010
Scottish Greens | |
|---|---|
| File:Scottish Green Party logo.gif | |
| Co-Convenors | Eleanor Scott and Patrick Harvie |
| ‘Leaders’ in the Scottish Parliament | Robin Harper and Patrick Harvie |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Headquarters | Thorn House 5 Rose Street Edinburgh EH2 2PR |
| Ideology | Green politics, Scottish independence |
| Political position | Centre-left[citation needed], Left[citation needed] |
| European affiliation | European Green Party |
| European Parliament group | N/A |
| International affiliation | Global Greens |
| UK Parliament affiliation | None, Cooperates with the Green Party of England and Wales and Green Party of Northern Ireland |
| Colours | Green |
| Scottish Parliament | 2 / 129
|
| Local government in Scotland | 10 / 1,222
|
| Website | |
| http://www.scottishgreens.org.uk/ | |
| Part of a series on |
| Green politics |
|---|
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The Scottish Green Party (Template:Lang-gd; Template:Lang-sco) is the Green party of Scotland. It currently has two MSPs in the devolved Scottish Parliament, Robin Harper, representing the Lothians, and Patrick Harvie, for Glasgow.
The Scottish party is fully independent, and works closely with the other green parties of the United Kingdom and Ireland: the Green Party of England and Wales, the Green Party in Northern Ireland and the Green Party of Ireland. It is a full member of the European Green Party.
The party currently has eight councillors: three in Edinburgh and five in Glasgow, all elected in 2007. There are also two members of the party sitting as Democratic Independent councillors in Aberdeenshire, both of whom defected from the Scottish Liberal Democrats in 2009[1].
At the 2005 Westminster election, the party contested 19 seats and gained 25,760 votes. Its top result was 7.7% of the vote in Glasgow North, a major breakthrough in the West of Scotland. In the European Parliament election of 2004, it missed out on a seat with 6.8% of the vote. However, the Party lost 5 of their 7 seats in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election.
According to accounts filed with the Electoral Commission for the year ending December 31, 2008, the party had an income of about £76,597 that year, and expenditure of around £57,000 and a membership of 998.[2]
History
The Scottish Green Party was a constituent part of the former UK Green Party until 1990, when the Scottish Green Party became a separate entity. The separation was entirely amicable, as part of the green commitment to decentralisation: the Scottish Green Party supports a referendum on Scottish independence.
The Scottish Green Party benefits from the fact that the British government created a Scottish Parliament, which is elected using the additional member system of proportional representation. In the first election to this Parliament, in 1999, the Scottish Green Party got one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) elected by proportional representation, Robin Harper, the UK's first Green Parliamentarian. On 1 May 2003 the Scottish Greens added six new MSPs to their previous total.
In the 2007 elections, the Party lost five seats in Holyrood. However in the council elections, taking place under the new Single Transferable Vote voting system, they gained three Councillors on the City of Edinburgh Council and five Councillors on Glasgow City Council.
On 11 May 2007, the Greens signed an agreement[3] with the Scottish National Party, which meant that the Greens voted for Alex Salmond as First Minister and supported his initial Ministerial appointments. In return, the Nationalists backed a climate change bill as an early measure and promised to legislate against ship-to-ship oil transfers in the Firth of Forth. The SNP also agreed to nominate Patrick Harvie, one of the Green MSPs, to convene one of the Holyrood committees: Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change.
On 28 January 2009, the two Green MSPs were instrumental in the defeat of the Government's budget,[4] though a slightly amended version was passed easily the following week.
Policy
According to the party's website, current policy is guided by the party's 2005 Westminster election, 2007 Holyrood election, and 2009 European election manifestos[5].
According to the same website, the party is committed to forming a sustainable society[6], and is guided by four interconnected principles:
- Ecology: Our environment is the basis upon which every society is formed. Whenever we damage our environment, we damage ourselves. Respect for our environment is therefore essential.
- Equality: A society that is not socially and economically just cannot be sustainable. Only when released from immediate poverty can individuals be expected to take responsibility for wider issues. Our society must be founded on cooperation and respect. We campaign hard against discrimination on grounds of gender, race, sexuality, disability, age or religion.
- Radical Democracy: Politics is too often conducted in a polarised, confrontational atmosphere and in a situation remote from those that it affects. We must develop decentralised, participative systems that encourage individuals to control the decisions that affect their own lives.
- Peace and Nonviolence: Violence at all levels of human interaction must be rejected and succeeded by relations characterised by flexibility, respect and fairness.
The party claims that, taken together, these principles give the party a holistic view that is in common with all Green parties around the world.[7]
Scottish Green Party MSPs
All of the Scottish Green Party's Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) have been elected under the list or "top-up" system of representation in the Parliament.
Current MSPs
- Robin Harper is MSP for the Lothians.
- Patrick Harvie is MSP for Glasgow and was elected male Co-Convenor of the Party in November 2008.
Previous MSPs
- Shiona Baird for North East Scotland.
- Chris Ballance for the South of Scotland.
- Mark Ballard for the Lothians.
- Mark Ruskell for Mid Scotland and Fife.
- Eleanor Scott for the Highlands and Islands. Elected Co-Convenor of the Party in November 2008.
Scottish Green Party Councillors
Aberdeenshire Council
- Martin Ford (East Garioch Ward)[8]
City of Edinburgh Council
- Steve Burgess (Southside/Newington Ward)
- Maggie Chapman (Leith Walk Ward)
- Alison Johnstone (Meadows/Morningside Ward)
Glasgow City Council
- Danny Alderslowe (Southside Central Ward)
- Nina Baker (Anderston/City Ward)
- Stuart Clay (Partick West Ward)
- Martha Wardrop (Hillhead Ward)
- Kieran Wild (Canal Ward)
Previous Councillors
Prior to the 2007 elections, the Party had only ever elected one councillor at local level: in May 1990, Roger (aka Rory) Winter, representing the Highland Green Party (Uainich na Gàidhealtachd), was elected in Nairn as Scotland's first Green regional councillor to the then Highland Regional Council. Cllr Winter broke away from the Greens in 1991 and continued his four-year term as an Independent Green Highlander.
Electoral Performance
| Election | Percentage of Scottish vote | Seats won | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 Scottish Parliament Election | 3.6% | 1 seat | Robin Harper became the first Green parliamentarian in Britain. |
| 1999 European Parliament Election | 5.8% | 0 seats | |
| 2001 General Election | 0.2% | 0 seats | |
| 2003 Scottish Parliament Election | 6.9% | 7 seats | |
| 2004 European Parliament Election | 6.8% | 0 seats | |
| 2005 General Election | 1.1% | 0 seats | |
| 2007 Scottish Parliament Election | 4.0% | 2 seats | |
| 2009 European Parliament Election | 7.3% | 0 seats |
See also
- Green party
- Green politics
- List of environmental organizations
- List of parties contesting the United Kingdom general election, 2005
Footnotes
- ^ Welcoming Debra Storr to the Greens. - Two Doctors
- ^ The Scottish Green Party Statement of Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2008, Electoral Commission website, accessed 4 January 2010
- ^ SNP and Greens sign working deal, BBC News website, 11 May 2007, accessed 6 January 2010
Text of Scottish National Party and Scottish Green Party Cooperation Agreement (60Kb pdf), accessed 6 January 2010 - ^ Scottish budget rejected by MSPs BBC News, 28 January 2009
- ^ Policy Overview, party website, accessed 28 December 2009
- ^ The expression sustainable society appears also in the title Manifesto for a Sustainable Society, which is still the principle policy-reference document of the Green Party of England and Wales
See The Green Party of England & Wales Policy and Manifesto for a Sustainable Society, Green Party of England and Wales policy website, accessed 28 December 2009 - ^ The Principles of the Scottish Green Party, party website, accessed 28 December 2009
- ^ Cllr Ford was originally elected as a Scottish Liberal Democrats councillor but left the party following the controversy over Donald Trumps proposed Golf Course and resort.